Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the most recent calculations of average rents for two bedroom homes in each of the 152 Broad Rental Market Areas that have been used to calculate local rental market statistics, including the Local Housing Allowance.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
In February 2019, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) published the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates that will go live from 1 April 2019. From April this year, VOA will also publish the full List of Rents which underlie LHA rates.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ban provisions in buy to let mortgages that exclude properties from being let to tenants in receipt of benefits.
Answered by John Glen
Decisions around the availability of Buy-to-Let mortgages, including any restrictions, are commercial decisions for lenders, and the Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.
We are aware that some lenders include restrictions in their mortgage terms that mean the properties against which they lend are not available to tenants who depend on welfare payments to meet the rental costs.
UK Finance has assured us, however, that the majority of active Buy-to-Let lenders do not prevent landlords leasing properties to tenants in receipt of welfare payments. Therefore, any landlord who wants to let to benefit claimants should be able to easily find a lender who will allow that.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which operates the restriction for landlords with fewer than ten properties, has also announced that it will be conducting a review of its Buy-to-Let policies.
It is also worth noting that only around one third of properties in the private rental sector are owned by Buy-to-Let landlords. The majority are owned outright or financed through other means.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department has made of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group in relation to exclusory conditions in that company's Buy To Let mortgages that prevent properties from being let to tenants in receipt of benefits.
Answered by John Glen
Decisions around the availability of Buy-to-Let mortgages, including any restrictions, are commercial decisions for lenders, and the Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.
We are aware that some lenders include restrictions in their mortgage terms that mean the properties against which they lend are not available to tenants who depend on welfare payments to meet the rental costs.
UK Finance has assured us, however, that the majority of active Buy-to-Let lenders do not prevent landlords leasing properties to tenants in receipt of welfare payments. Therefore, any landlord who wants to let to benefit claimants should be able to easily find a lender who will allow that.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which operates the restriction for landlords with fewer than ten properties, has also announced that it will be conducting a review of its Buy-to-Let policies.
It is also worth noting that only around one third of properties in the private rental sector are owned by Buy-to-Let landlords. The majority are owned outright or financed through other means.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what equality impact assessments his Department has made of the provisions in buy to let mortgages to exclude the property from being let to tenants in receipt of benefits.
Answered by John Glen
Decisions around the availability of Buy-to-Let mortgages, including any restrictions, are commercial decisions for lenders, and the Government does not seek to intervene in these decisions.
We are aware that some lenders include restrictions in their mortgage terms that mean the properties against which they lend are not available to tenants who depend on welfare payments to meet the rental costs.
UK Finance has assured us, however, that the majority of active Buy-to-Let lenders do not prevent landlords leasing properties to tenants in receipt of welfare payments. Therefore, any landlord who wants to let to benefit claimants should be able to easily find a lender who will allow that.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, which operates the restriction for landlords with fewer than ten properties, has also announced that it will be conducting a review of its Buy-to-Let policies.
It is also worth noting that only around one third of properties in the private rental sector are owned by Buy-to-Let landlords. The majority are owned outright or financed through other means.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the effect on period poverty of the recommendation on exempting feminine hygiene contained in the report Break the Barriers: Girls' experience of menstruation in the UK, published by Plan UK in January 2018.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Government agrees that Value Added Tax should not be levied on women’s sanitary products.
That is why we apply the minimum permissible VAT rate of 5 per cent to women’s sanitary products and have committed in legislation to introducing a zero rate of Value Added Tax for these supplies as soon as it is legally possible. However, at present, such a measure would constitute a breach of European Union legislation.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of Insurance Premium Tax on public sector organisations.
Answered by John Glen
The Government regularly keeps all taxes under review. This includes Insurance Premium Tax.
Insurance Premium Tax is a tax paid by insurers on all general insurance premiums. It is therefore up to them whether to pass on this cost to consumers, including public sector organisations.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department holds information on the socio-economic background of people appointed to senior positions in his Department in the last five years.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
In line with Cabinet Office policy for all government departments to collect and report on Socio-economic background data by 2020, the Treasury are currently preparing to update processes and technology to allow collection and reporting of this data.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue accrued to the public purse through corporation tax in (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
Corporation Tax liability and receipts information is published in the Corporation Tax National Statistics on www.gov.uk. The latest year for Corporation Tax (CT) liabilities is 2015-16, and for CT receipts is 2016-17.
Corporation Tax liabilities information for 2016-17 will be published in September 2018. The first estimate of CT receipts in 2017-18 will be published on 24th April 2018 in the monthly HMRC tax & NIC receipts publication available on www.gov.uk.